Upcoming Events

Professor Michael Ross will discuss his latest work, The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law and Justice in the Reconstruction Era. In this book, Ross offers the first full account of the kidnapping of seventeen-month-old Mollie Digby by two African American women. This event electrified the South at one of the most critical moments in the history of American race relations.

John Grady, the author of "Matthew Fontaine Maury, Father of Oceanography: A Biography, 1806 - 1873," will discuss Maury's time in Richmond during the American Civil War and his contributions to the Confederacy.

Reservations are not required but space is limited. To ensure your spot at this lecture, reserve your seat here.

On June 23, 1865, Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender his troops. Join Interpretation and Programs Specialist, Sean Kane as he explores the contributions and experiences of American Indians during the Civil War.

It was a calamitous end to the bloodiest war in American history: the shooting of President Lincoln. His murder sent a wave of fright across the north, people feared a massive conspiracy to eliminate the American government; and the hunt for these conspirators began. It did not last long, within a matter of weeks Booth was dead and his “henchmen” and “henchwoman” were captured. Now began one of the most profound and controversial trials in American history.

Less than a day after Jefferson Davis left Richmond, Federal forces captured the White House, intact. Thus began a five year occupation of the site by the U.S. Army, during Reconstruction-era Virginia. The Director of Museum Operations, Eric App, will give you a glimpse of the house as a military occupation headquarters, and will spotlight a few of the officers who served there.

One of the great “unknown” stories of Richmond concerns the Hermitage Fairgrounds, Camp Lee (the biggest military site in Richmond), Goree (the first Freedman’s village after the war), and Richmond’s first golf course. They were all the same site. Where was it? What was its 100-year history that makes it important, and why doesn’t anybody know anything about it today? Museum Co-CEO Waite Rawls will shed some light on these questions at this talk.

In most quashed rebellions, the leaders lose their lives or are forced into exile. The aftermath of the American Civil War provides and unusual example of leniency. There were no executions, outside those of Henry Wirtz and Champ Ferguson (who were convicted of war crimes), and the longest imprisonment lasted only two years. From the capture of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, to the escape of Judah Benjamin his secretary of state, this talk by Kelly Hancock, Interpretation and Programs Manager, will explore the fate of various leaders after the fall of Richmond.

The passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments forever changed American society. Join Museum Co-CEO Christy Coleman as she explores the social and political implications of these amendments at the time of their passage and in contemporary American culture.